The Supply of High Quality Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries: Evidence from Nigeria

Post date: Jun 30, 2015 3:09:16 PM

This project focuses on the question of how to increase the supply of high quality entrepreneurs in Nigeria. It aims to quantify and explore the link between entrepreneurial interest and practice, and to provide data and insights on the profile and motivations of potential entrepreneurs. The researchers use several rounds of a large-scale survey of 47,560 undergraduate students enrolled in Nigerian tertiary institutions, gathering data on entrepreneurial interest, business ownership, and personal characteristics. We then analyse the extent to which students who expressed an interest in entrepreneurship were indeed more likely to start a business, and examines how other personal characteristics, such as gender, shape the link between entrepreneurial interest and practice.

Given that highly educated entrepreneurs tend to become better managers than the uneducated ones, it is important to identify the factors responsible for translating an interest in business into actual entrepreneurial practice. By analysing new data on the traits and motivations of potential and actual entrepreneurs in Nigeria, this project will identify such factors, which should help design targeted policy interventions to increase the supply of high quality entrepreneurs.

The project is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office under its PEDL initiative, a joint initiative with the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Read more about this project here.